Tidbit - My dad is handsome

Today we went out for dinner as usual. Was in a Chinese restaurant in Taman Megah, Cheras. We were eating and ordered a pot of Chinese tea. As is custom, we lifted the lid of the pot to the side of the mouth when we needed refilling.

A waitress was serving a table beside us. My dad said to see if she would be 'seng muk' (alert) enough to see the teapot or not. Then she approached our table to serve our order. My dad placed a new order for another plate of noodles. They were talking while I was watching if any hand came near the teapot.

She walked away without the teapot.

I turned to my dad and said she not "seng muk" at all.
Dad said : We were talking ma...
I said: But she was standing right in front of our table!
Dad said: Then she talking to a 'leng zai' ma...

My sister and I snorted XD

Tidbit - What is a perut buncit?

There was a moderate amount of people in the LRT. I was seated and listening to snatches of the conversation around me. On my right, there was a Malay father standing with his son (about 3? 4? year old). The kid was rambling on about some stuff and the dad was replying him in turn. I was half asleep when I heard this:

Kid: (pointing at dad's tummy) Abah dah nak baby!


XD I was immediately awake. LOL.

Tidbit - Driving for 4 year olds

This morning, I was sitting in the car with my uncle fetching his 4-year old son to kindy. On the way, as we were approaching a traffic light, he leaned forward to his dad,

"爸爸, 你看到紅灯的時候哦... 如果你忘記停哦, 按brake那個車就停了咯!"
(Daddy, when you see the red light, and you forgot to stop; step on the brake and then the car will stop!)

Then my brother joined in the fun (make sound effects), and pretended to drive along with my cousin (who was by now accompanying his new found wisdom with actions - his leg pushing against the little litter box in the center). Teaching him how to manoeuvre following his dad, we prompted him to turn at every corner. Then at one junction,

"阿芫, 要轉了咯... 為什麼你沒轉?"
(Ah Yuan, we need to turn, how come you're not turning?)

"... 我要用飛機翅膀!"
(... I want to use aeroplane's wings!)

"小芫, 為什麼你駕車突然會變飛機的?"
(Little Yuan, why did your car suddenly become an aeroplane?)

"因為我是神奇校車麻!"
(Because I'm the magical school bus!)

XD LOL

Tidbit - Duit Dapur

Today I was shopping for some sundry stuff with my mum. I had just gotten paid for my workbook editing. I was looking around while my mum went to pay at the counter. And then,

"Hey, just now the money you took a?"

"Yeah, why?"

Mum stretches out her hand. I look in astonishment. I hand over the money. Though I don't quite get why I had to.

She resumes paying after I turn my back. And then,

"Now you have to bei ka yong (give duit dapur) edi..."

I'm in further astonishment....

Later, I told my bro via MSN:

Yun Rui 윤예 says (3:38 AM):
she says i got to gv her duit dapur now

*help よしみがいなくてさびしい,ごめなさいよしみ,愛してるよよしみ.好きだよよしみごめなさいよしみ愛してるよよしみ... says (3:41 AM):
haha
so cham
duit dapur ??
jaja
u've grown up
haha

Yun Rui 윤예 says (3:41 AM):
==

Tidbit - Mum and Dad

Mum tells Dad about the incident where she put her phone to charge but she didn’t turn on the power switch (which is quite typical of her, really).

Dad: Don’t you know you’re always so “mong” (forgetful)?
Mum: Ya lo, you married a very “mong” wife.
Dad: Luckily you didn’t forget who’s your husband…
Mum: Maybe in future I will =P

Tidbit - Cobbler

There was once I went to a cobbler to fix the heel on my shoe. This cobbler has been there a long time, and I suppose you could say he was quite familiar with my mum too. 'Cos he was just seated outside the shop where we often bought our newspaper.

So I left my shoe with him, and mum and I went to grab something to eat. Later, when we came back to collect the shoe, Mum naturally offered him the payment. To our amusement, the cobbler said, "Tak mau duit. Duit sudah banyak," and waved us off, as if we were pesky mosquitoes.

Tidbit - 2 Hole Fish Ball

Tuesday was Dumpling Festival. As such, my family went back to my maternal grandmother’s house for a ‘reunion’ dinner. Almost everyone was there, from all my other 7 cousins to my aunties and uncles. The dishes were abounding – we had roast duck, chicken, fish and some vegetables. The soup was clear soup with some vege and some other things you always find in steamboats, like fish balls, and this other thing – a long-ish, fish ball like, but with a hole from one end to the other end, and always with a stripe of brown in the middle. I love this a lot. And I suppose everyone else at the table. Or at least, those my generation and younger. When the second round of soup came, Mum poured out two of those, and I quickly grabbed one. Grandma remarked, “This time don’t know why… can’t find it in the market, so only got 6 (paraphrased from Cantonese)” Following that, the other remaining ones were quickly gone from the soup too.

Later, after we all sat in the living room, full and satiated, some catching up and chatter began. My 2^nd uncle (the father) asked my 3-year old cousin (the son), “今天为什么那么多人？(Why were there so many people here today?)”

My 3-year cousin said, “因为全部人要吃那个两个洞的鱼圆! (Because everyone wants to eat the fish ball with 2 holes!)”

The 2-hole fish ball in question. I just found out that it's called "Chikuwa Fish Cake". Taken from glutton-island.blogspot.com

Tidbit - LRT

Share a little sweet incident in the LRT some time ago...

There was a family comprising the father, mother, a son and a younger daughter. The daughter was putting on her jacket. The sleeves were too long. She turned to her parents (who were sitting as she was standing), holding out her left arm to her mum. So the mum took the sleeve and started folding. Dad took the other arm. Now the little girl was totally facing her parents, with an arm in each parent's hands. Mum finished folding the sleeves in 2 folds in like, 2 seconds. Dad was still fumbling around, and seeming to realise his wife was done, turned to look at the sleeve she did. And he looked back and forth between that and the one he was folding. Left, right, left, right until the wife took mercy and held out 2 fingers to him, "2" (referring to folds). Dad took the hint and did it right finally. After like, half a minute later.

Heehee... =D

Tidbits - Mamak

As I sit here falling asleep (and most probably would 'slip' away soon), I thought of sharing 2 short incidents, 'tidbits' in my life. Both of these incidents happened in one of the most popular cultures of Malaysia, the mamak.

Incident 1:

Yesterday, my family and I went for dinner. As we sat down, the boss came to take our order. He asked, "Minum apa?"

My mum replied, "Roti sardin"

Without blinking an eye, the boss continued, "Minum roti sardin, makan apa?"

I looked at my brother, and we both burst out laughing.

Incident 2:

This morning, I had breakfast with my mum. The boss came asking, "Nescafe tarik, teh tarik?"

Mum replied, "Nescafe tarik", then gestured to me, asking me what I wanted to drink.

One of the workers asked, "Teh tarik a?"

The boss, with an imitation of a little girl, "Dia cakap, Saya mau milo..." =P